^ 


PROCEEDINGS  AND  SPEECHES 


ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE  DEATH 


HON.  WILLIAM  M.  COOKE, 


OF"  m:issoxji^i. 


In  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Confederate  States, 
on  the  18th  of  April,  1863. 


RICHMOND: 

8MITU,    BAILKY    &    CO.,    PEINTERS. 

1803. 


George  Washington  Flowers 
Memorial  Collection 

DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


ESTABLISHED  BY  THE 

FAMILY  OF 

COLONEL  FLOWERS 


V4o 


EULOGIES 

ON    THE 


DEATH  OP  HON.  ¥M.  M.  COOKE, 


OF    MISSOURI. 


REMARKS  OF  HON.  GEORGE  G.  VEST, 

OF  MISSOURI. 

Mr.  Speaker :  It  is  my  painful  duty  to  announce  the 
death  of  my  colleague,  the  Hon.  William  M.  Cooke,  a 
member  of  this  House  from  the  State  of  Missouri.  He 
departed  this  life  in  the  city  of  Petersburg,  at  five  minutes 
before  six  o'clock,  on  the  evening  of  the  14th  instant. 

To  say  only  that  I  knew  him,  would  be  gross  injustice 
to  the  relations  that  have  existed  between  us.  He  was 
my  most  intimate  friend,  between  whom  and.  myself  no 
shadow  ever  came.  Standing  in  the  presence  of  that 
dread  mystery  which  has  separated  us,  I  shall  speak  of 
him  as  he  was,  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  To  many 
here,  sir,  probably  to  a  majority  of  this  body,  what  I 
shall  say  will  be  but  a  part  of  the  ordinary  ceremonial 
expected  in  observance  of  parliamentary  custom,  and 
limited  to  the  cold  utterance  of  set  phrases.  With  me 
it  is  far  different ;  but  I  am  well  aware  that  circumstances 
connected  with  the  condition  of  his  State,  and  an  innate 
modesty  of  which  he  could  not  be  divested,  caused  Judge 
Cooke  to  be  less  known  as  a  member  of  this  House  than 
his  talents  and  acquirements  deserved.  It  was  not  the 
least  of  his  virtues,  that  painfully  sensitive  to  suspicion 
of  ever  seeming  to  intrude  upon  any  public  or  private 
circle,  he  at  the  same  time  scorned  the  ordinary  arts  by 
which  many  in  high  position,  achieve^  an  ephemeral 
notoriety.  Of  him  it  could  truly  be  said,  as  was  written 
by  a  great  poet  in  the  description  of  a  gentle  and  loving 
woman — 

"Her  fairest  virtues  fly  from  pub  ic  sight, 
Ddmestic  worth  that  shuns  too  strong  a  light." 


EULOGIES    ON    THE     DEATH    OF 


Wm  M.  Cooke,  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  Va.,  on  the 
11th  day  of  December,  1823,  and  was  the  sixth  son  of 
Mordicai  Cooke,  a  gentleman  well  known  in  Virginia, 
and  for  many  years  connected  with  the  legislation  of 
that  State.  In  1843,  after  an  attendance  of  three  years^ 
Judge  CooKE  graduated  at  the  University  of  Virginia, 
and  removed  to  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  which  was  then 
just  beginning  to  throb  with  the  energy  of  that  great 
region,  tributary  with  its  rich  and  varied  products  to 
this  empress  of  the  West.  Soon  after  taking  a  residence 
in  St.  Louis,  he  intermarried  with  the  eldest  daughter  of 
Henry  Von  Phul,  of  that  city,  and  in  the  year  succeed- 
ing his  marriage  removed  to  Hannibal,  Missouri,  for  the 
purpose  of  practising  his  profession.  He  was  soon 
afterwards  made  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas, 
and  discharged  the  duties  of  that  position  with  ability 
and  zeal.  Reasons  connected  with  the  comfort  and  hap- 
piness of  his  family,  induced  Judge  Cooke,  in  the  year 
'46  to  return  to  St.  Louis,  and  he  then  applied  himself 
to  the  practice  of  the  law  in  that  city.  The  records  of  the 
highest  courts  in  Missouri  and  the  testimony  of  those 
who  practiced  with  him,  can  attest  the  extent  of  his  legal 
knowledge  and  his  high  position  at  the  bar.  In  the  year 
preceding  this  return  to  St.  Louis,  the  slavery  question 
became  the  subject  of  intense  excitement  throughout  the 
State  of  Missouri.  The  Legislature  of  that  State  at  its 
session  of  '45,  passed  the  Jackson  resolutions,  the 
author  of  which,  lately  died  an  exile  and  wanderer  upon 
the  soil  of  a  sister  State,  and  the  principles  announced 
in  this  action  of  the  Legislature,  the  same  principles  for 
which  the  South  is  now  contending,  were  assailed  by 
Thomas  H.  Benton  with  a  bitterness  and  ability  rarely 
equalled  in  the  annals  of  political  warfare.  Old  party 
lines  were  oblijterated  by  this  new  and  exciting  conflict 
between  the  Benton  and  anti-Benton  parties. 

The  one  represented  the  Northern,  the  other  the 
Southern  elements,  which  are  now  in  civil  war  contend- 
ing for  supremacy.  Deeply  imbued  with  the  doctrines 
of  Mr.   Calhoun,  passionately    attached   to    his   mother 


HON.    WILLIAM     M.    COOKE. 


State  and  her  institutions,  a  true  Southern  gentleman  in 
every  instinct  of  his  nature,  Judge  Cooke  did  not  hesi- 
tate a  single  moment  in  arraying  himself  against  Ben- 
ton and  the  heresies  he  defended.  From  that  time  on, 
through  all  the  exciting  scenes  of  the  Benton  strug- 
gle, when,  in  1857,  the  fanatic  hordes  of  the  North 
poured  into  ''  bleeding  Kansas,"  with  Sharpens  rifles  in 
one  hand  and  their  desecrated  bibles  in  the  other,  and 
when  John  Brown  rehearsed  upon  the  soil  of  Missouri  the 
crimes  of  treason  and  murder,  which  he  afterwards  ex- 
piated with  his  blood.  Judge  Cooke  was  a  firm,  unflinch- 
ing adherent  to  the  principles  of  the  Southern  party. 
For  years  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  he  struggled  with  a 
small  but  determined  minority,  against  the  supremacy 
of  Francis  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  and  his  foreign  auxiliaries. 
Intimidated  by  no  threats,  allured  by  no  rewards,  he 
never  wavered  from  the  principles  he  professed.  When, 
in  the  spring  of  1861,  it  became  evident  that  war  alone 
could  preserve  the  liberties  of  the  slaveholding  States, 
Judge  Cooke  felt  it  his  duty,  although  with  a  large  fam- 
ily, to  defend  upon  the  battle  field  the  principles  he  had 
advocated.  He  was  sent  by  Governor  Jackson,  in  March, 
1861,  as  a  commissioner  to  the  President  of  the  Confed- 
erate States,  and  after  discharging  the  duties  of  his  mis- 
sion, returned  and  entered  the  army  of  Missouri  as  an 
aid  to  the  Governor.  In  this  capacity  he  served  at  the 
battles  of  Boonville  and  Carthage,  and  as  an  aid  to  Gen- 
eral Sterling  Price,  at  the  battle  of  Oak  Hill.  After  the 
battle  of  Oak  Hill  he  was  again  sent  as  commissioner  to 
Richmond,  in  conjunction  with  General  John  B.  Clark, 
now  a  member  of  the  Senate,  and  upon  his  return  to  the 
army,  was  elected  to  the  Confederate  Congress. 

I  have  known  Judge  Cooke  intimately  in  every  rela- 
tion of  life,  public  and  private,  civil  and  military.  He 
was  a  gentleman  by  biith,  education,  habit  and  instinct. 
A  more  ufiSelfish  spirit  never  existed  upon  earth.  Lov- 
ing and  tender  as  a  woman  in  all  social  and  domestic  re- 
lations, he  was  yet  firm  and  inflexible  in  opposition  to 
what  he   conceived  wron^,  or  in  defense   of  the  right. 


EULOGIES    ON    THE    DEATH    OF 


His  very  faults  were  those  of  a  generous,  noble  nature, 
and  but  enT-.eared  him  the  more  to  his  associates.  With 
a  fine  cultivated  classic  taste,  thoroughly  read  in  English 
and  French  literature,  he  had  every  quality  and  acquire- 
ment calculated  to  adorn  and  fascinate  society  As  the 
shadows  of  death  gathered  upon  his  pathway,  he  met  his 
fate  with  the  calmness  which  always  attended  him,  let 
danger  come  in  any  shape  or  at  any.  hour.  He  died  a 
member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  with  a  firm 
reliance  upon  the   promises  of  the  bible. 

Missouri  has  lost  another  of  those  gallant  sons  who 
bared  their  bosoms  to  the  storm  of  battle,  in  defence  of 
her  honor.  He  now  rests  upon  the  soil  of  the  State 
which  gave  him  birth,  as  a  babe  hushed  to  sleep  upon  its 
mother's  breast.  Another  home  is  desolate,  another 
place  vacant  at  the  hearth  and  in  loving  hearts.  Amidst 
the  crash  of  battle,  the  rush  of  armed  men,  who  hears 
the  wail  of  the  orphan,  or  the  sob  of  the  widow  ?  On 
the  shores  of  the  great  river  his  wife  and  litte  «mes  will 
watch  for  his  coming,  "  in  the  morning,  in  the  evening, 
in  the  twilight,  in  the  black  and  dark  night ;  "  but  they 
will  watch  in  vain !  The  eye  which  beamed  with  a 
father's  love  is  now  rayless,  the  voice  which  was  sweeter 
to  them  than  any  earthly  music,  will  be  heard  no  more. 
They  know  not  that  in  a  distant  land  he  has  slowly  ebbed 
his  life  away.  As  1  watched,  Mr.  Speaker,  at  his  bed 
side  the  certain  advance  of  his  disease,  as  I  saw  him 
gradually  but  gently  receding  from  us,  I  was  often  re- 
minded of  that  custom  observed  by  the  Hindoo  maidens 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  :  Placing  upon  an  earthen 
dish,  wreathed  with  flours,  a  lighted  lamp,  they  commit 
the  frail  vessel  to  the  bosom  of  the  river  and  watch  its 
progress  amidst  the  evening  shadows,  believing  its  fate 
to  be  typical  of  that  of  some  absent  friend.  So  watched 
I  the  light  of  his  life  as  for  weeks  it  flickered  and 
lingered  along.  My  straining  eyes  can  see  it  no  longer, 
but  may  we  not  hope  that  upon  the  great  ocean  of  eter- 
nity it  has  burst  into  Loontide  splendor.     By  others  who 


HON.    WILLIAM    M.    COOKE. 


knew  him  and  who  loved  him,  he  maybe  soon  forgotten  ; 
but  for  myself, 

"  The  last  rays  of  feeling  and  life  must  depart, 
Ere  the  love  that  I  bore  him  shall  fade  from  mj'  heart." 

I  move,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  adoption  of   the  following 
resolutions: 

Rnsolved,  That  we  have  heard  with  deep  regret  of  the  death,  in  the  city 
of  Petersburg,  Va.,  en  the  14th  inst.,  of  the  lion.  Wm.  M.  Cooke,  a  member 
of  this  House  from  the  State  of  Missouri,  and  that  we  tender  to  his  family 
our  earnest  .-ympathy  in  their  afflictive  bereavement. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  transmitted  to  the  family  of 
the  deceased,^  and  that  a  communication  be  sent  to  the  Senate,  informing 
them  of  the  action  of  this  House. 

Resolved,  Tho.t  as  a  further  maik  of  rcf-peet  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased, 
this  House  do  nuw  adjourn. 


REMARKS  OF  HON.  CASPAR  W.  BELL, 

OF  MISSOURI. 

Mr.  Speaker :  In  rising  to  second  the  resolutions 
which  have  been  prop»osed  by  my  colleague,  I  would  do 
violence  to  every  impulse  of  my  heart,  if  I  should  fail 
to  add  my  humble  testimony  in  this  public  manner  to 
the  worth  and  merit  of  the  honored  deceased.  For  whilst 
I  have  known  him  comparatively  a  short  time,  our 
acquaintance  began  and  was  continued  under  circum- 
stances which  will  ever  endear  him  to  my  memory,  and 
furnish  me  with  many  facilities  for  forming  a  correct 
estimate  of  his  character. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  June,  of  the  year  1861, 
we  first  met — a  period  memorable  in  the  history  of 
unhappy  Missouri  ;  memorable,  because  of  the  stirring 
and  thrilling  scenes  which  were  enacted  on  her  soil,  and 
which  threw  their  darkened  shadows  upon  the  hopes  and 
the  hearts  of  every  true  patriot. 

For  the  purpose  of  overawing  the  people,  and  of  pre- 
venting the  State  of  Missouri  from  exercising  its  rights 
as  a  sovereign  and  independent  State,  in  affixing  its 
destiny  with  the  South,  the  United  States  government 


IIULOGIES    ON    THE     DEATH    OF 


was  pouring  its  martial  hordes  upon  her  soil — hordes 
more  Gothic  than  those  of  Alaric,  and  less  merciful  than 
those  of  Attillar.  All  the  towns  and  cities  were  garri- 
soned ;  all  the  roads  and  public  highways  were  seized  and 
held  ;  armed  bands  of  soldiers  were  scouring  the  country, 
and  all  descriptions  of  arms  were  seized  and  moved  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  htate,  or  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
invaders.  Private  citizens,  while  pursuing  the  peaceful 
and  quiet  avocations  of  life,  in  the  presence  of  their 
families,  were  manacled  with  the  bonds  of  despotism, 
and  dragged,  with  coarse  jeers,  to  loathsome  dungeons — 
helpless  women  and  children  were  ruthlessly  assailed 
and  wantonly  insulted;  in  man 3^  instances  driven  from 
their  homes,  and,  in  some  cases,  in  cold  blood,  mur- 
dered. The  Governor  of  the  State,  the  heads  of  the 
various  departments,  and  the  members  of  the  Legislature 
were  forced  to  quit  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  become 
wanderers  and  fugitives  from  the  malice  and  wrath  of  a 
foe  who  was  clamoring  for  their  blood. 

Claiming  for  themselves  that  they  w^ere  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  highest  type  of  civilization,  these  invaders 
perpetrated  the  most  revolting  deeds  of  barbarism ; 
professing  the  benignant  and  charitable  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  they  committed  the  deeds  of  devils.  No 
piety,  however  pure,  no  patriotism,  however  ardent,  no 
age,  sex  or  condition  of  life,  was  too  sacred  for  their 
felon  touch ;  but  with  feelings  blackened  and  charred  in 
the  fiery  furnace  of  hate  and  vengeance,  they  swept 
through  the  State,  marking  their  course  with  ruin  and 
desolation. 

Amid  scenes  such  as  these,  the  Governor  of  the  State, 
the  late  Claiborne  F.  Jackson,  hastily  drew  around  him 
less  than  three  hundred  men,  armed  with  common  guns, 
and  without  a  piece  of  fixed  ammunition,  without  trans- 
portation, without  a  commissary,  without  money,  and,  in 
a  word,  destitute  of  every  necessary  for  the  conduct  of 
a  campaign,  was  marching  South  and  calling  as  he  went 
upon  the  people  to  rally  to  his  standard  to  redress  their 
wrongs  and  defend  their  rights. 


HON.    WILLIAM    M.    COOKE. 


Of  that  small  band  the  deceased  was  a  member,  and 
for  the  first  time  I  saw  him.  Having  early  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  South,  and  being  thoroughly  identified  with 
that  party  which  was  seeking  to  detach  the  State  from 
the  Federal  Union,  and  fired  by  the  wrongs  under  which 
his  State  was  groaning,  he  was  among  the  very  first  to 
rally  to  the  call  of  the  Governor,  "determined,"  as  he 
said,  **  to  rescue  his  State  from  the  foot  of  the  invader, 
or  to  yield  up  his  life  a  sacrifice  to  the  cause." 

In  the  history  of  the  world,  no  sublimer  instance  of 
moral  courage  can  be  pointed  to  than  that  of  the  de- 
ceased ;  under  circumstances  so  appalling  to  every  hope, 
solemnly  and  deliberately  dedicating  his  life  to  the  cause 
he  had  espoused.  Escape  to  the  South,  to  all  human 
calculation,  seemed  impossible,  and  the  annihilation  of 
any  military  organization,  such  as  could  be  then  impro- 
vised, was  almost  sure  and  inevitable-  For,  in  his  rear, 
he  was  pursued  by  Greneral  Lyon,  with  a  large  and  well 
appointed  force ;  thirty  miles  in  the  front  were  stationed 
over  a  thousand  Federal  home  guards,  and  still  further 
to  the  front,  a  still  larger  force  under  General  Seigli. 
But  the  brave  spirit  of  the  deceased  was  undismayed,  and 
seemed  to  derive  fresh  strength  and  inspiration  from  the 
perils  which  environed  him.  By  his  energetic  action  and 
his  patriotic  appeals  he  aroused  the  desponding,  and  in- 
vigorated the  hopeful ;  and,  though  a  man  of  delicate 
frame,  unused  to  the  privations  of  the  "  tented  field," 
and  an  dIEcer  of  high  rank,  he,  by  personal  example,  re- 
conciled the  mind  of  the  soldier  to  a  cheerful  submission 
to  the  hardships  of  military  life. 

The  deceased  continued  a  member  of  the  army  until 
near  the  first  of  September,  when,  at  the  request  of  Ma- 
jor General  Price,  he  accompanied  General  John  B. 
Clark,  (now  a  member  of  the  other  branch  of  this  Con- 
gress,) to  this  city  on  business  for  the  army. 

During  his  association  with  the  army,  he  had  the  sat- 
isfaction of  seeing  that  little  column  which  had  set  out 
under  circumstances,  such  as  I  have  described,  swelled 
to  more  than  fifteen  thousand  men,  and  under  the  com- 


8  EULOGIES    ON    THE    DEATH    OF 


mand  of  that  gallant  chief,  Major  General  Sterling  Pric^e, 
waving  his  blood-stained  banner  in  triumph  over  five 
hotly  and  well  contested  fields  of  battle. 

The  history  of  the  early  campaign  in  Missauri,  the 
battles  of  Carthage,  Springfield  or  Oak  Hills,  will  not 
be  faithfully  written  which  does  not  record  the  name  of 
Colonel  Wm.  M.  Cooke  as  one  of  the  bravest,  most 
gallant  and  efficient  officers  of  that  army  of  heroes  and 
patriots,  the  Missouri  State  Guard. 

Shortly  after  the  return  of  the  deceased  from  this 
place  to  the  army,  he  was  selected  to  represent  the  first 
district  of  Missouri  in  the  Provisional  and  present  Con- 
gresses. As  a  member  of  the  two  bodies,  all  will  remem- 
ber him  as  a  genial,  warm  hearted,  courteous  gentleman, 
prompt  and  attentive  to  his  duties,  sensitively  alive  to 
every  subject  of  interest  to  his  State,  and  to  every 
measure  of  general  interest  which  looked  to  a  successful 
issue  of  this  great  revolution. 

In  the  discussions  which  ensued  on  the  various  mea- 
sures of  public  interest,  if  he  did  not  participate,  it  was 
by  no  means  from  a  want  of  interest  in  the  subjects 
discussed,  or  from  distrust  in  his  abilities  as  a  speaker. 
For  the  deceased  w^as  a  gentleman  of  varied  attainments, 
a  practiced  speaker  at  the  bar  and  upon  the  Hustings — 
possessing  a  very  graceful  and  ready  declamation,  and 
by  those  longer  acquainted  with  him  than  myself,  said 
to  be  always  pleasing  and  effective,  and  not  unfrequently 
thrillingly  eloquent. 

In  the  private  and  social  circles  of  life,  his  artless 
manner,  his  frank  and  open  demeanor,  his  manly  bearing, 
and  his  sprightly  and  felicitous  conversational  powers, 
rendered  him  an  ever  welcome  and  wished  for  visitor  to 
every  circle  of  his  acquaintance,  and  drew  around  him 
many  warm  and  lasting  attachments. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  active  and  busy  scenes  of  life 
have  now  fiided  upon  the  view  of  this  gallant  officer,  this 
true  hearted  patriot  and  amiable  and  worthy  gentleman. 
His  last  battle  has  been  fought,  his  last  earthly  labors 
have  ceased.     The  silver  cord  has  been  broken  and  his 

II  ■  


HON.    WILLIAM    M.    COOKE. 


spirit,  as  I  trusty  has  ascended  to  the  Grod  who  gave  it 
and  his  body  has  been  committed  to  the  tomb  to  mingle 
with  the  dust  of  this  ancient  Commouwealth — the  home 
of  his  nativity  and  early  manhood.  Upon  that  newly 
made  grave,  now  wet  with  the  tears  of  his  heart-broken 
widow  and  orphan  children,  I,  as  one  of  his  friends  on 
this  floor,  and  his  companion  through  many  stormy 
scenes  of  the  early  revolution,  would  now  mingle  my 
tears  of  sorrow  and  affiction. 


REMARKS  OF  HON.  A.  H  GARLAND, 

OF  ARKANSAS. 

Mr.  Speaker :  The  oft  repeated  story  of  mortality  is 
recited  to  us  to-day,  and  in  the  sad  intelligence  that  one 
of  our  comrades  has  fallen,  and  has  been  summonei  to 
his  home  beyoud  the  grave;  and,  let  us  hope,  not  to  a 
land  of  gloom  and  darkness,  but  to  one  of  light  and 
eternal  youth.  As  a  friend  of  the  deceased,  and  one  of 
his  oldest  acquaintances  here,  outside  of  his  own  col- 
leagues, and  coming,  too,  from  an  adjoining  State,  it  is 
not  unfit,  I  hope,  that  I  should  pay  a  parting  tribute  to 
his  merit  and  worth.  I  first  met  Mr.  Cook,  in  November, 
1861,  on  his  way,  with  his  colleagues,  to  this  place,  to 
take  his  seat  in  the  Provisional  Congress.  We  journeyed 
together  from  Arkansas  here.  I  found  him  then  what 
he  ever  afterwards  showed  himself  to  be — a  polite,  warm- 
hearted, generous,  cultivated  gentleman.  With  more 
than  ordinary  ability,  and  much  more  than  ordinary 
attainments,  he  was  at  all  times  an  agreeable  and  inter- 
esting companion.  Modest  and  unobtrusive,  he  did  not 
take  che  position,  nor  did  he  seem  to  strive  to  do  so,  that 
his  merit  entitled  him  in  the  Provisional  or  this  Congress. 
But  his  mind  grasped  all  the  great  questions  arising  in 
this  contest,  and  his  soul  was  keenly  alive  to  all  the  vital 
interests  involved  in  the  issue.  The  condition  of  his 
down-trodden  State  was  his  excuse  for  not  being  more 


10  EULOGIES     ON    THE    DEATH    OF 


prominent  in  the  proceedings  of  the  bodies  of  which  he 
was  a  member. 

On  more  than  one  occasion  has  he,  with  tearful  eyes 
and  deep  expressions  of  a  breaking  heart,  recounted  to 
me  the  sufferings  and  miseries  of  that  people  so  dear  to 
him.  And  for  that  people  for  whom,  as  we  have  heard 
to-day,  he  perilled  his  life,  and  fought  so  nobly  under 
our  common  colors,  he  never  ceased  to  speak  in  the 
fondest  terms ;  and  it  was  his  earnest  prayer  to  be  once 
more  with  them.  Some  few  weeks  since,  when  I  visited 
him  in  sidkness,  when  the  hectic  flush  upon  his  cheek, 
the  glassy  eye,  the  quick  and  heavy  respiration,  told  too 
plainly  the  sands  of  life  were  fast  running  out,  and  his 
days  on  earth  Avere  few,  he  viewed  his  fate  as  a  true  and 
brave  man  alone  does,  unmoved  and  uriblenched. 
j  Sir,  he  died  from  his  wife  and  children,  far  from  "  the 
j  loved  ones  at  home  ;"  ptnd  while  he  sank  to  rest  removed 
from  these  endearing  scenes,  when  probably  the  wife  and 
'i  children  there  looking  out,  as  the  nightfall  came  upon 
the  household,  for  the  coming  of  the  husband  and  the 
father  to  add  new  joys  to  the  throng ;  yet  he  closed  his 
eyes  upon  this  world,  in  the  good  old  land  that  gave  him 
birth.  And  truly,  *'in  the  bosom  of  his  mother  earth  Urien 
sleeps ;"  of  all  places  on  earth,  next  to  his  own  State, 
the  most  appropriate  to  receive  his  remains.  And  here- 
after, when  the  noble  old  matron  of  honored  men  and 
great  States,  shall,  with  mingled  pride  and  sorrow,  re- 
view her  long  list  of  departed  worthies,  she  will  shed  a  I 
tear  over  the  memory  of  no  better  type  of  the  correct  I 
and  true  gentleman  than  that  represented  by  Mr.  Cooke.  | 
And  while  he  was  thus  deprived  of  the  consolations  of 
his  family  in  his  last  hours,  thrown  from  them  by  the 
storm  and  shock  of  battle,  yet  his  spirit  was  given  back 
to  its  maker  at  a  time  ever  to  be  remembered  by  us,  and 
one  at  which  his  noble  heart  would  have  swelled  with  the 
most  fervent  emotions — when  the  thunders  of  our  guns 
at  Charleston,  dying  over  the  main,  were  speaking 
out  to  the  world  Southern  freedom,  Southern  inde- 
pendence.    Since  he  lived  to  witness  this  great  triumph. 


HON.    WILLIAM    M.    COOKE.  1  I 


it  would  have  been  to  him  a  joy  unmeasured  to  have 
been  spared  a  short  while  longer,  when  he  could  look 
upon  his  people,  once  more  freemen,  and  enjo^^ing  those 
blessings  for  which  they  have  made  such  wonderful  sac- 
rifices. But  he  has  paid  the  debt,  and,  while  society  has 
lost  an  ornament,  our  cause  has  lost  as  staunch  a  friend 
as  ever  entered  the  councils  of  our  country  ;  and,  al-  | 
though  we,  his  brothers-in-duty,  may  not  know,  to^  the  j 
full  extent,  his  merit,  yet,  with  the  people  of  his  State 
and  those  every  where  who  knew  him  well,  long  will  live, 
and  flourish  as  it  lives,  the  memory  of  WIlliam  M. 
Cooke. 

With  this  slight  testimonial  of  my  regard  for  the  de- 
ceased, from  my  heart,  I  second  the  resolutions  just  road 
from  your  table. 


REMARKS  OF  HON.  D.  M.  CTJRRIN, 

OF  TENNESSEE. 

Mr.  Speaker  :  I  have  listened,  with  the  deepest  sen- 
sibility, to  the  remarks  of  those  who  have  preceded  me, 
on  this  melancholy  occasion.  During  the  last  few 
months  that  immediately  proceeded  his  death,  it  was  my 
good  fortune  to  enjoy  the  intimate  acquaintance  and 
friendship  of  our  deceased  friend.  We  first  met  here 
in  the  Provisional  Congress  as  strangers  ;  and  until  the 
commencement  of  the  present  session,  there  existed  be- 
tween us  only  that  general  acquaintance  which  is  usual 
amongst  members  of  the  same  legislative  body.  At  the 
time  to  which  I  have  just  referred,  circumstances  threw 
us  together  in  the  same  mess :  and  thus,  in  habits  of 
constant  and  daily  intercourse,  I  had  opportunity  of  ob- 
serving those  many  noble  and  attractive  qualities  for 
which  the  deceased  was  so  remarkably  distinguished.  It 
required  some  such  intimacy  to  bring  out  into  full  light 
all  the  fine  points  of  his  character.   For  there  was  about 


12  EULOGIES     ON     THE    DEATH    OF 


him  a  modesty,  a  reserve,  and  a  natural  dignity  that  did 
not  very  easily  yield  to  the  casual  contact  of  mere  or- 
dinary acquaintanceship ;  but  .when  these  barriers  were 
broken  down  by  more  intimate  association,  it  was  found 
that  beneath  an  exterior  of  seeming  reserve,  there  pul- 
sated as  warm,  as  confiding,  and  as  generous  a  heart  as 
ever  beat  in  the  breast  of  man. 

Comparatively  recent  as  was  our  intimacy,  I  feel  now, 
as  I  stand,  as  it  were,  by  his  grave,  as  though  we  had 
been  friends  from  our  boyhood.  Mr.  Speaker,  he  was 
one  of  those  few,  rare  men  we  sometimes  meet  in  life, 
whom,  when  you  come  to  know  them  well,  you  seem  to 
have  known  all  your  lifetime.  His  nature  was  eminently 
generous,  genial  and  social.  His  mind  was  well  stored 
with  the  treasures  of  varied  and  extensive  reading ;  his 
literary  taste  was  most  cultivated  and  refined ;  and  to 
these  gifts  were  added  colloquial  powers  that  rendered 
his  conversation  unusually  fascinating.  Nor  disease, 
nor  failing  health  could,  for  one  moment,  obscure  the 
brilliancy  of  his  powers,  or  chill  the  genial  current  of 
his  social  feeling.  And  as  the  last  enemy,  with  sure  but  in- 
sidious steps,  advanced  upon  him,  it  was  touching  to  ob- 
serve with  what  easy  and  even  cheerful  philosopy  he  re- 
garded his  advances  ;  himself  seemingly  less  concerned 
about  his  fate,  than  were  those  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded. There  was  no  querulousness  ;  no  despondency ; 
no  weak  anxiety  or  apprehension  as  to  the  result ;  but, 
with  the  characteristic  unselfishness  of  his  nature,  it 
was  easy  to  see  that  he  affected  an  unconsciousness  of  his 
condition,  lest  the  sympathy  and  aniexty  of  his  friends 
might  cast  a  cloud  over  the  little  circle  of  which  he  still 
continued  to  be  the  charm.  Surely,  as  he  gradually 
sunk  to  his  rest,  with  his.  heart  unchilled,  and  his  powers 
undimraed,  there  seemed  much  to  deprive  death  of  its 
usual  terror.  It  is  believed  by  his  friends,  that  in  his 
last  hours,  he  had  no  anxiety  except  to  see  his  absent 
wife  and  children,  and  to  give  them  his  last  blessing. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  touching  to  reflect  that  such  a  man 
should  have  died  far  from  those  objects  of  the  dearest 


HON..    WILLIAM    M.    COOKE.  13 

of  all  human  ties — far  from  sacred  home — that  home 
over  which  such  qualities  as  he  possessed  must  have  shed 
a  perpetual  sunshine  of  domestic  happiness — and  far 
from  the  State  of  his  residence  and  adoption  ;  that  State 
which  had  so  often  honored  him  with  her  confidence  in 
the  most  responsible  positions,  and  whose  interests  and 
present  perilous  fortunes,  as  is  well  known  to  his  inti- 
mate friends,  were  so  often  the  subjects  of  his  conversa- 
tion and  thoughts.  We  have  heard  from  his  colleagues, 
how  patriotism  had  made  him  an  exile  from  that  home 
and  that  l^tate ;  how,  at  the  verj  commencement  of  our 
present  struggle,  with  failing  health,  and  a  fe».ble  frame 
ill-fitted  to  obey  the  promptings  of  his  heroic  soul,  he 
repaired  to  the  field  and  served  with  honorable  distinc- 
tion as  a  soldier,  until  the  voice  of,  his  people  summoned 
him  to  our  councils  here.  Yet  it  is  consolatory  to  re- 
flect, that  though  he  died  from  home,  he  died  not  amongst 
strangers. 

He  died  here,  in  the  State  in  which  he  first  drew  the 
breath  of  life — the  land  of  his  nativity,  where  kind  and 
affectionate  relatives  still  remain.  He  died  not  amongst 
strangers ;  for  his  qualities  were  such  as  to  have  made 
warm  and  attached  friends  of  all  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded. And  as  a  weary  child  returns  to  its  mother's 
breast,  so  our  deceased  friend,  now  that  life's  wanderings 
and  troubled  journey,  for  him  at  least,  are  over,  reposes 
calmly  upon  the  bosom  of  this  proud  old  commonwealth 
that  gave  him  birth. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  not  come  to  pronounce  any 
labored  eulogy  upon  the  character  of  the  deceased  ;  but 
have  arisen  upon  the  sudden  promptings  of  my  heart 
which  would  not  let  me  be  silent,  but  bids  me  unite  my 
humble  voice  in  the  expression  of  the  general  griv.f. 
Standing  here,  memories  of  past  companionship  crowd 
thick  upon  me — memories  that  I  will  not  trust  myself 
to  attempt  to  express  in  words. 

So  recent  is  this  affliction,  that  I  can  scarcely  realize 
that  he,  who  but  yesterday,  was  so  cherished  by  us  all, 
is  no  more  ;  that  his  place   in  the  circle  is  now  vacant. 


14  EULOGIES    ON    THE    DEATH    OF 


But,  alas !  the  sad  conviction  forces  itself  upon  me. 
The  friend — my  friend,  the  patriot,  the  accomplished 
gentleman,  is  gone  !  I  come  only  to  lay  my  poor  offer- 
ing upon  his  grave. 


REMARKS  OF  HON.  H.  W.  BRUCE. 

OF  KENTUCKY. 

Mr.  Speaker:  On  this  mournful  occasion,  and  in 
this  solemn  presence,  I  have  but  few  words  to  say.  My 
acquaintance  with  the  deceased  would  not  allow  of  more. 
Though  not  an  accustomed  eulogist,  I  have,  however, 
thought  it  not  inappropriate  that  some  of  his  more  recent 
acquaintances  should  speak  of  him  at  this  time.  It  so 
happened  that  our  deceased  and  lamented  friend,  over 
whom  we  all  now  so  sincerely  mourn,  was  one  of  the 
very  first  of  the  many  agreeable  and  genial  acquaintan- 
ces that-it  was  my  good  fortune  to  make  when  I  repaired 
to  this  city,  in  February,  1862,  to  take  my  seat  as  a 
member  of  this  honorable  body.  And  the  first  repre- 
sentative duties  imposed  upon  me  as  a  member  of  this 
House,  it  was  my  pleasant  task  to  perform  in  connection 
with  Judge  Cooke,  as  a  member  of  the  committee,  of 
which  my  accomplished  and  honorable  friend  (Mr.  Lyons) 
from  Virginia,  was  chairman,  to  arrange  the  ceremonies 
for  the  inauguration  of  the  first  permanent  President 
and  Vice  President  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 
That  committee  was  composed  of  a  member  from  each  of 
the  thirteen  States  constituting  the  Confederacy ;  and  on 
that  committee  I  had  the  honor  to  represent  the  unfor- 
tunate, but  to  me  still  dearly  cherished.  State  of 
Kentucky,  as  did  Judge  Cooke  that  of  Missouri.  Al- 
though the  labors  of  that  committee  were  not  such  as 
necessarily  to  prevoke  an  exhibition  of  the  powers  and 
beauties  of  his  mind  and  his  intellectual  culture,  yet  at 
our  earliest  interview  he  impressed  me,  as  no  doubt  he 
did  other  members  of  the  committee,  not  only  as  a  man 


HON.    WILLIAM    M.    COOKE.  15 

of  fine  mental  capacity  and  extensive  intellectual  culture, 
but,  in  the  justest  sense  of  th?  term,  as  a  thorough 
gentleman.  For  a  few  weeks  we  occupied  rooms  on  the 
same  floor  directly  opposite  to  each  other,  at  the  Spotts- 
wood  hotel  in  this  city,  and  were  consequently  often 
thrown  into  each  other's  society.  In  society  he  wore 
the  same  lofty,  dignified  and  courteous  mien,  of  which  i 
his  uniformly  decorous  bearing  as  a  Representative,  has 
left  an  impression  on  this  House.  In  his  nature,  I 
think  I  transcend  not  the  just  bounds  of  truth  when  I 
say,  I  found  nothing  to  condemn  ;  but  to  admire,  many  of 
the  noblest  qualities  and  most  generous  impulsions  with 
which  frail,  if  not  fallen,  humanity  is  endowed.  These 
admirable  characteristics  were  most  hapily  blended  in 
his  generous  nature.  He  was  as  brave  as  he  was  gentle, 
as  noble  as  he  was  kind,  as  firm  as  he  was  respectful,  as 
generous  as  he  was  just,  frank  and  ingenuous,  without 
dissimulation  or  guile.  But  if  we  concede,  sir,  that 
like  all  of  us  he  had  allotted  to  him  a  share  of  the 
human  weaknesses  incident  to  our  common  nature,  I 
think  it  can  safely  be  averred  of  him,  if  of  any  man, 
that, 

*•'  E'n  his  vices  leaned  to  virtue's  side." 

This,  Mr.  Speaker,  is  but  a  meagre  presentation  of 
my  estimate  of  Judge  Cooke's  character,  founded  on 
what  may  be  called  a  limited  acquaintance.  For  with 
his  early  history,  education,  associations  and  pursuits,  I 
am  not  personally  familliar. 

After  the  first  few  weeks  of  our  acquaintance,  in  con- 
sequence of  my  removal  to  a  different  paft  of  the  city, 
our  association  became  less  intimate.  Our  first  brief 
association,  however,  taught  me  to  feel  that  had  it  been 
protracted,  our  acquaintance  would  have  ripened  into 
affectionate  friendship.  But  his  earthly  career  is  now 
terminated;  and  alas  !  how  much  sooner  than  I  antici- 
pated when  it  was  first  my  pleasure  to  meet  him.  On 
the  committee,  to  which  I  have  adverted,  were  several 
members  of  this  House  whose  heads  were  already  silvered 
o'er  with  the  frosts  of  many  winters  ;  and  had  poor,  err- 


16  EULOGIES    ON    THE     DEATH    OF 

ing  human  judgment  been  called  on  to  point  out  the  in- 
dividual among  us  on  whom  grim  death  would  first  lay 
his  icy  hand,  perhaps  one  of  those  more  elderly  gentle- 
men would  hare  been  indicated.  I  am  sure  our  deceased 
friend  would  not  have  been.  But,  whilst  I  bewail  the 
demise  of  my  friend,  I  rejoice  and  felicitate  this  branch 
of  our  federate  legislature,  that  "our  other  associates  on 
that  interesting  occasion  are  still  spared  by  an  Allvrise 
Providence  as  useful  members  of  this  body.  When  we 
then  met  together,  a  pall  of  darkness  and  uncertainty 
enshrouded  our  whole  country,  and  sorely  depressed  the 
feelings  and  hopes  of  our  people.  Henry,  Hatteras  and 
Donelst-n  had  fallen ;  the  gallant  Wise,  Coles  and  other 
compatriots  had  been  slain,  fighting  gloriously  for  their 
country's  freedom ;  the  noble,  chivalric  and  skillful 
Buckner,  with  his  brave  and  heroic  fellow  soldiers,  had 
been  led  off  into  Northern  captivity  ;  brave  Tilghman, 
too,  and  his  noble  little  garrison  had  gone  the  same  way  ; 
Kentucky  and  a  part  of  Tennessee  had  been  given  up  to 
the  ravages  of-  the  vandalic  invader  ;  imminent  dangers 
threatened  us  on  all  sides.  Yet,  we  expected  to  see  our 
country  emerge  from  those  frowning  dangers  into  the 
effulgent,  meridian  sunlig'it  of  ilidependence.  No  doubt 
our  friend  expected  to  be  one  of  the  happy  millions  who 
are  to  rejoice  when  that  glorious  period  shall  arrive;  as 
it  must  arrive  some  da}^.  And  I  may  say,  that  though 
he  lived  to  see  "all  the  clouds  that  (then)  lowered  o'er 
our  house  in  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried,"  still 
it  was  not  his  rare  felicity  to  be  spared  to  behold  the 
accomplishment  of  those  two  objects,  which  we  all  know, 
were  the  dearest  to  him  of  all  earthly  desires,  the  re- 
demption of  his  own  State  from  the  thrall  of  tyranny 
and  despotism,  and  the  acknowledged  and  perfect  inde- 
pendence of  this  Confederate  government. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  sadist  reflection  to  me  in  this  me- 
lancholy subject,  is  that  our  friend  and  legislative  col- 
league should  have  been  deprived  of  the  consolation  of, 
and  died  away  from,  his  family,  from  whom  he  had  so 
long  been  separated  by  the  most  wicked  tyranny  that 


HON.    WILLnM    M.    COOKE.  17 

ever  oppiessed  any  honest  people.  It  would  have  been 
a  sad  and  melancholy  satisfaction  to  them  and  to  him, 
had  they  been  with,  and  smoothed  his  brow,  in  his  last 
moments.  That  the  kind  beneficence  of  Him,  who  "tem- 
peretK  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb,"  may  be  with  and 
console  them  in  this  their  m)st  afflicting  and  sor'fest 
bereavement,  I  know,  is  the  sincere  prayer  of  every  | 
member  of  this  House. 


REMARKS  OF  HON.  JOHN  B.  BALDWIN, 

OF  YIRGTNrA. 

Mr.  Speaker:  I  had  no  acquaintance  with  Judge  Cooke 
until  I  met  him  here  as  a  member  of  this  House,  and 
since  I  have  known  him  our  intercourse  has  not  been 
specially  intimate,  yet  I  feel  a  desire  to  add  here  my 
tribute  of  kindly  regard  for  one  who  had  in  a  remarka- 
ble degree  attracted  my  sympathy  and  good  will. 

In  our  intercourse  with  the  world  we  sometimes  meet 
witli  men  who  seem  to  have  about  th:m  something  which 
insensibly  and  yet  irresistibly  attracts  and  wins  us — 
something  wholly  independent  of  judgment  or  opinion — 
and  which  may  be  called  ihe  gift  of  being  beloved.'  I 
have  rarely  met  with  one  who  possessed  this  gift  in  a 
higher  degree,  and  I  think  the  m<nnbers  of  this  House 
will  agree  in  the  remark  that,  as  he  moved  amongst  us, 
he  chaJlenged  our  affections  rathers  than  our  j  augments 
and  that  before  we  had  time  to  form  an  opinion  of  his 
merits  he  had  taken  us  captive  by  the  genial  charm  of 
his  manners. 

As  I  saw  h'm  here  day  by  day  engaged  in  the  high 
duties  for  which  his  talents,  attainments,  and  character 
so  eminently  fitted  him,  I  could  not  but  observe  the 
gradual  yet  certain  increase  of  the  disease  which  has 
cut  short  his  career  of  usefalnoss  and  of  honor,  and  I 
felt  that  for  a  cause — for  our  cause — he  was  dying  at 
the  post   of  duty. 


18  EULOGIES    ON     THE    DEATH    OF 


Mr.  Speaker,  men  have  won  renown  by  standing  firm 
in  a  great  cause,  even  at  home,  suiroundcd  hy  tamily 
and  friends  and  sustained  by  the  voices  of  Mpproving 
multitutles.  Glory  is  the  rewind  of  those  who  bhare  in 
the  dangers  of  the  field  on  ^vhich  men  stjind  :is  a  wall  of 
defence  for  the  loved  ones  at  home.  Iminortal  honor  at- 
tends upon  those  who  are  battling  where  frtem.n  stiike 
for  independence  in  the  forefront  of  the  invader.  This 
is  right,  and  natural,  and  just;  and  yet  mIumi  I  looked 
upon  our  friend  walking  the  path  of  duly  alone,  in  sick- 
ness, even  unto  death — far  f)cm  the  lime  he  h;id  so 
gladdened  and  adorned — I  confess  I  foigot  his  l.igh  at- 
tainments as  a  scdiolar  and  ^tatef-man.  J  tb(  rght  not  of 
his  distinguished  gallantry  as  a  tried  solditj,  bur  niy 
sympathies  clustered  around  the  exile  -who  was  denied  the 
privilege  of  gcing  home  to  die — the  bus"  and  and  father 
from  whose  dying  bed  the  C(»]d,  hard  hand  of  war  held 
back  the  loving  attendance  ot  wife  and  childien. 


REMARKS  OF  HOH.  JCHN  R.  CHAIIBLIS?, 

OF  VIRGINrA. 

Mr.  Speaker:  I  arise  to  second  the  resolutions  rela- 
tive to  the  melancholy  and  untin.ely  deaih  o^'  our 
lamented  associate,  Judge  \Vm.  M.  Cooke.  A b hough  I 
had  not  the  honor  of  his  acfjuaintance  l^efote  we  met  in 
this  hall,  yet  I  know  who  he  was  and  whence  he  came. 
Born  on  the  shores  of  the  roaring  wateis  of  ibe  *•  deep 
blue  sea,"  within  my  own  district;  dcK-cndcd  fiom  a 
most  respectable  and  extcn'sive  family  ;  iii  their  name, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  generous  constimency  whom  I 
represent,  I  ihank  the  various  members  who  have  spoken, 
for  the  eulogy  they  have  parsed  on  his  n  (moiy,  end  I 
mingle  my  tears  and  sympathies  and  their  tears  and 
sympathies  with  his  wife  and  little  ones  in  a  iar  distant 
State,  in  our  common  bereavement. 

Judge  CooKE  died  a  martyr  in  the  great  struggle  in 


HON.    WILLIAM    M.    COOKE.  19 

which  we  are  involved,  devoted  in  feeling,  sentiment  and 
action  from  the  beginning  of  this  ruthless  war  to  the 
close  of  his  somewhat  eventful  and  patriotic  life,  I  feel 
an  honored  Vhginian  has  gone  to  render  his  account  be- 
fore the  tribunal  of  eternal  justice. 

His  position  was  peculiar;  the  home  of  his  birth  and 
his  childhood,  around  which  clustered  the  aifections  of 
his  youth,  and  to  which  his  memory  ever  reverted  in 
pleasing  recollections  of  earlier  years,  was  in  the  hands 
and  under  the  rule  and  dominion  and  trodden  by  the 
heel  of  a  cruel  and  ruthless  invader.  His  adopted  home, 
on  the  west  of  the  father  of  waters — a  home  where  he  had 
been  clothed  with  the  mantle  of  a  people's  confidence — a 
home  which  contained  the  wife  of  his  bosom  and  the 
fond  children  of  his  loins,  was  aho  in  the  hands  of  the 
common  foe.  Thus  he  was  stricken  by  the  hand  of 
disease,  and  died  an  exile  from  friends  most  dear,  de- 
prived of  the  comforting  presence  of  wife,  children  and 
friends;  yet  he  died  not  among  strangers,  but  with  re- 
lations and  kindred,  in  the  hospitable  city  of  Petersburg, 
and  his  body  has  been  committed  to  his  mother  earth,  in 
his  native  State. 

Like  many  others  from  the  old  States,  feeling  the 
aspirations  of  genius  and  the  prorapting^s  of  laudable 
ambition,  he  left  his  ocean-washed  home  and  sought 
fortune  and  favor  in  the  great  and  rising  far  West. 
That  he  was  right,  events  have  demonstrated.  Leaving 
Portsmouth,  a  beardless  wanderer,  he  returns  to  his  native 
Viiginia,  clothed  with  the  honor.' — and  well-deserved 
and  well-wen  honors — of  the  State  of  ^Missouri. 

Kow,  Mr.  Speaker,  if  all  that  has  been  said  of  him 
by  his  hssociates  be  true — and  doubtless  it  is  true — he 
added  di^'nity  and  beauty  to  all  the  jesponsible  positions 
to  which  he  has  been  assigned.  He  has  been  found  equal 
to  the  trying  occasions  of  peace  and  war.  Let  us,  then, 
ttourn  his  loss;  let  us  drop  the  tear  of  sorrow  and  sym- 
pathy over  his  grave  ;  let  a  monument  be  erected  to  his 
memory;  let  his  epitath  be 

**  Nil  ieiigit  quod  non  ornavit ."^"^ 


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